


Sleepless

by SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher (UglyJackal)



Series: Jack and Ydris have a baby AU [4]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: Jack/Ydris have a baby AU, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 08:32:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12186558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UglyJackal/pseuds/SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher
Summary: Jack and Ydris knew they were in for some sleepless nights





	Sleepless

Joan was a little bit of a handful sometimes. As a baby, she had gotten off to sleep quite promptly, if a little bit restless throughout the night. As she aged, her sleeping was supposed to get better, however that was entirely _not_ the case. If anything, it had gotten worse. Joan was five years old, and she was awake for half the night. She wasn’t crying or calling for either of her dads, but she just sat there or lay there quietly, looking out of the window at the moon and stars. The only thing that seemed to get her off to sleep was either Ydris or Jack coming into her bedroom and cuddling and talking to her. Ydris often took great pleasure in teaching her the different constellations, and Jack brought Walter, his sleepy Basset Hound puppy, in with him for added snuggles.

The both of them had searched books and the internet for a solution to their problem, but most of the articles that they came across was targeted more towards screaming babies. Several times they came across something called “Controlled Crying”, which made Jack think of treating Joan like a remote controlled car.

They even dragged their anti-social arses over to some of the parents on the island of Jorvik and asking about it face-to-face. Although all they could really offer was ideas such as more cuddly toys, a CD playing music or audio book, and other such ideas that the two struggling fathers had already tried. Mrs Holdsworth even suggested letting either Walter or Halli sleep on Joan’s bed with her, as a source of comfort.

But nothing that they tried seemed to make any sort of impact.

‘She’ll probably grow out of it,’ Ydris said, as they all sat outside in the shade of the circus tent. Joan had her head in the magician’s lap, sound asleep.

‘I would think that she would,’ Jack said, 'but I don’t want to risk her growing up and it not going away. What if she becomes a teenager and she’s still having problems going to sleep? Teenagers tend to struggle with sleep routines anyway, and I don’t want Joan to be having all-nighters almost every night. Look at how tired Z can be sometimes when she’s been chatting to friends late into the night, and she’s an _adult_.’

Ydris nodded. 'Yes, I do see what you mean,’ he said, 'but I think we’ve just got to wait it out. Clearly, Joan is more of a night owl than a day stoat.’

'Ydris… I don’t think there’s an expression for a day person.’

'I could have said “early bird”, but I thought that was someone who got up early.’

Jack shrugged, and went back to petting Halli, who had her head in his lap, hoping for some of his sandwich.

* * *

A few nights later, and Ydris was laying in bed with Joan, his daughter snuggled up to his chest. He had been teaching her about the constellations again while his fiancée went back to sleep in their own shared bed.

'Sweetheart?’ Ydris asked quietly.

'Yes, Papa?’ Joan replied, looking up at her father.

'Why can’t you sleep at night?’ He didn’t exactly expect an answer, but he thought it could be worth asking her anyway.

'I don’t know…’ his daughter said, 'I guess… I guess I just like the night time.’

'Do you feel like you can’t sleep?’

'No, if I want to sleep, then I will… but I guess I just don’t really want to.’

There was silence for a little bit after that, during which Joan shut her eyes and drifted off. The magician smiled down at his daughter, who was snoring gently, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then he also shut his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Jack was woken up by a distinct lack of tall wizard. He rolled over and looked at the empty space on the bed beside him, pillow dented where his head had laid not six hours ago. Halli and Walter had snuggled up together between Jack and Ydris’ respective pillows. Jack sighed and sat up, back cracking as he stretched. He yawned and reached for his phone. He switched it on to see if he had any messages or other notifications, and groaned at the bright light. _What was the time anyway?_ he wondered to himself.

10:56am, his phone blinked at him.

With a sigh, he answered the two messages from Z ( _No, I did not want to go cryptid hunting at three in the morning. All you would want to do is look at the seagulls. I hope you went back to sleep_ ), and Louisa ( _Sure, you can join me in Hollow Woods for some quiet time. Bring a quiet horse though, you wouldn’t want to scare the animals off, if they come over_ ). And then he dragged himself reluctantly out of bed.

He was about to stumble into the bathroom when he checked in on Joan. To see that she had kidnapped his fiancée and was now using him as a pillow. Ydris looked to be just waking up too. Jack smiled warmly, and went back into his bedroom to grab his phone and switch onto the camera app. He went back to Joan’s room and snapped a picture of his sleeping family, which he promptly sent to both Z and Louisa, with the caption, _Welcome to fatherhood_.


End file.
